March 29, 2016

Apple Wins a Patent for a Projection Display that could produce 3D Holographic Images & Beyond

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 51 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover an invention that Apple began working on back in 2006, a year before the iPhone came to market. Apple's granted patent covers an autostereoscopic projection display that could produce 3D holographic-like imagery. The user would be able to view 3D images without the use of glasses, goggles, or other personally-worn physical viewing aids. Earlier today we covered an Apple patent about stackable connectors wherein Apple listed a holographic projection device as one that would be able to take advantage of the new connector. We wrap up this week's granted patent report with our traditional listing of the remaining granted patents that were issued to Apple today.

Apple notes that the positions of one or more observers can also be tracked in real time so that the 3D images that are being projected to the observers can be continually customized to each observer individually. The real time positional tracking of the observer(s) also enables 3D images having realistic vertical as well as horizontal parallax. In addition, each 3D image can be adjusted according to the observers' individually changing viewing positions, thereby enabling personally customized and individuated 3D images to be viewed in a dynamic and changeable environment. Further, the positional tracking and positionally responsive image adjustment enable synthetization of true holographic viewing experiences.

Also for Advanced Desktop Systems

The system could uniquely be used in an advanced iMac system where upon entering the environment of the 3D display system, the system would recognize such an observer and customize that observer's experiences according to the unique preferences and parameters associated therewith. Examples would include automatically authenticating the observer, personally greeting the observer upon arrival, providing a customized desktop for just that observer, providing customized control responses (e.g., responses to head movements) for that observer, resuming the 3D display where it had been previously stopped, and so forth. This kind of system would be miles ahead of Windows Hello feature.

Patently Apple covered Apple's original patent application back in 2008. To view more graphics and detail see our report here. Apple's granted patent 9,300,951 was originally filed in Q3 2006, updated in 2010 and published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

The Remaining Patents granted to Apple Today

Note: In order to see a clearer image of the list above, simply click on the image above to enlarge it. Some browsers may require that you click on the image and then a second click on the image to enlarge it fully.

Patently Apple presents only a brief summary of granted patents with associated graphics for journalistic news purposes as each Granted Patent is revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any Granted Patent should be read in its entirety for full details. About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Comments are reviewed daily from 5am to 6pm MST and sporadically over the weekend.